


I Hope

by Idzzdi



Series: I.. [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Break Up, M/M, Makeup, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-07 02:39:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idzzdi/pseuds/Idzzdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Don’t.”<br/>“I- What?”<br/>“Don’t over think this.” Of course Niall knew what Louis was thinking. “We all know you two are gonna end up together again.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Now I don’t know about this one. Took me very long to write and I just don’t have a good feeling. Not sure if I wanna make another sequel.
> 
> (I had somebody else proof read this, so sorry if it sucks.)

Harry was somewhere in England. Louis was in Florida in the United states. Harry was in England, Louis was in Florida and Louis was missing Harry more than words could say.

After their screaming match at the airport Louis hadn’t even had time to go home before his management hauled him onto the next best plane to leave the continent. As much as Louis wanted to ignore it, there indeed were more than just a few people staring at him after Harry had turned on his heel and walked away. The tears streaming down his face probably didn’t make the countless pictures snapped at that moment look any prettier, but he didn’t care.

His body guard had come, pushed as many people away as he could while he led him to some room Louis didn’t really remember ever being in. He just remembered sitting in the same chair for almost an hour before his manager came by. He wouldn’t stop yelling, insulting Louis, asking him whether he knew what he had just done and saying a lot of unpleasant things, but Louis didn’t care. Louis was too caught up in his sadness, trying to keep his heart together though it was of no use.

And just as he had understood this and his manager had almost been done with him, he had accepted the fact that it would take him half an eternity to collect all the pieces of his broken heart to fix it, if ever that would be the case. Louis wanted to be alone, wanted to sulk by himself, cry himself to sleep. But his manager had had other planes, booking flights and hotels in between yelling at him.

Louis didn’t care. Louis didn’t care one bit about all the nasty things he was called and all the untrue things thrown at his face. He didn’t care as long as the insult was directed at him. But as soon as his manager muttered out an annoyed “And don’t ever let that stupid fag be seen in public with you again!” Louis was up on his feet, throwing a heavy punch right in his manager’s face. Let’s just say he surely didn’t see that coming and was down on the floor before one of the security guards could do so much as move the tiniest bit.

Louis wasn’t fired but the topic was never touched again. He didn’t know if it was because his manager knew that to a certain extend he had deserved the punch or if he just didn’t care or if Louis simply lacked the strength to land a punch that would actually get him in trouble.

But none of this was any of his concern right now as all his will power was used to keep him breathing steadily and to restrain from calling Harry. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t call the boy who’s voice he wanted to hear so badly. Who he wanted to sit down with, talk things through and then make up. Louis couldn’t stand the silence.

But Louis couldn’t talk either, not to anyone. He locked himself in his hotel room in Florida, after a horrific arrival at the airport (let’s just say news traveled fast and judging from the amount of cameras and paparazzi at the airport once he landed, the whole world probably already knew about.. everything). His manager was happy that Louis kept from ruining his reputation any more by doing such mindless things as talk to fans or paps at all. But Louis still couldn’t care less and so he laid in the bed of his hotel room for the third day in a row, staring at the ceiling and wondering whether the pattern painted on there was truly random or whether he could detect a certain symmetry (though he had been doing that for that past 72 hours and he still hadn’t spotted anything, so the answer was most likely no).

He only turned his head when he heard his phone vibrating against the wooden surface of the bedside table. He stretched his arm to reach for the phone and lifted it up lightly to glance at the screen. Not that he had planned on talking to anyone, but he wouldn’t want to miss Harry in case he called. Unfortunately it wasn’t Harry that called, but Niall. It wasn’t a surprise really, Niall had called him the past couple of days as well, probably wondering how he was doing. From the news and magazines Niall probably knew that he was still alive and locked away somewhere in a hotel in the States, so Louis hadn’t considered it necessary to answer the phone just yet. But as he stared at the flashing screen and the ridiculous contact picture of Niall that was grinning at him now he only turned over, pulling the phone up to his ear before he answered the call.

He didn’t say anything and only stayed quiet as he waited for Niall to say something.

“Louis?” His Irish cousin asked, sounding incredulous.

“Hmm?” Louis hummed in response, not feeling quite ready for words yet.

“Oh my God, finally! I’ve been trying to reach you for days! Where the fuck are you? I thought you were off to Paris with Harry and then there’s all that weird stuff on the Internet about you crying at the airport and then Liam calls me and says you and Harry broke up and what the fuck is even going on?” Louis didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. “Louis? Lou! Speak to me. I’m not having any of your silent treatment crap. Nobody knows where you’re at, I don’t know if I can believe what the Internet tells me. Will you please speak to me?” Silence. “For fuck’s sake. Am I gonna have to call Harry about this?”

“No.” Louis said quickly, but so quietly he was afraid Niall might miss it.

“Good.” The Irish lad muttered though and both boys let put a breath they had been holding. “Now tell me what’s really going on.”

“I-” Louis started, his voice getting caught as he felt hot water swelling up in his eyes. “Can’t. Just..”

“Okay.” Niall said soothingly, his voice softer than ever. “It’s okay, mate. Tell me what happened. We’ll figure it out.”

“Harry-” A loud sob escaped Louis’ lips and he pressed them together in an effort to keep from crying any harder. It took him a while to calm back down but Niall waited patiently, keeping quiet for most of it, only muttering calming words now and then. “H-H-He b-broke up w-with me-e.” Louis sobbed and it was barely understandable but from the sharp intake of breath he heard from the other end of the line he knew that Niall got the message one way or another.

“So is it true what it says on the Internet? About you crying at the airport?”

“Uhu.” Louis hummed out, swallowing sobs as the bubbled up in his mouth.

“Louis where are you? Are you at home?” Niall sounded concerned now and Louis imagined him to be halfway out the the door already, sprinting to his car to come see Louis. Niall was such a good lad.

Louis hummed out a sound of disagreement, taking in deep breaths to calm himself enough to speak again. “F-Flori-ida.” Was all he managed before another loud sob broke through his lips.

“Hmm, Lou. Stop crying.” Niall said softly and Louis could almost feel Niall’s hands squeezing his shoulders consolingly. And as Niall muttered on Louis felt his breathing going back to normal and the tears stopped running down his cheeks the longer he laid, his phone pressed to his ear, listening to his cousin speak. Louis scold himself inwardly, thinking he should have taken Niall’s call a lot sooner. Of course he would understand.

“Better?” The boy asked after a while as Louis had calmed down.

“Yeah.” Louis said with a quiet hiccup. “Thanks.”

“No problem, mate. Do you.. do you want me to come over?”

“You know I’m still in Florida, right?”

“Yeah.” There was a short pause. “But I don’t know, I mean if you need me to.. you know. You’d have to pay for the flight, because I’m broke as always, but yeah..” Niall’s voice trailed off and Louis couldn’t help but chuckled a little.

“You just want to go to Florida.” He teased and Niall laughed loudly.

“You know me.”

Louis chuckled again and it felt good. It felt good being only remotely happy again after not having stopped crying for the past three days. But it also felt odd. He felt like he wasn’t meant to be happy. He was meant to be sad and sulking and feeling bad for what he had done.

“Louis?” Niall asked, pulling him back into reality. His eyes focused back on the pattern on the ceiling and he cleared his throat before he throat.

“Yes?”

“Don’t.”

“I- What?”

“Don’t over think this.” Of course Niall knew what Louis was thinking. “We all know you two are gonna end up together again.”

“I really don’t-” Louis tried, but Niall interrupted him right away, not even letting him finish the sentence.

“Don’t give up. If you really love him you’ve got to let him know. And then he’ll come around.”

“Maybe not.”

“Let’s hope for the best.”

“Yeah.. I hope.”

~

“How did you sleep?” Liam asked as he sat his tray down onto the table next to Harry, sliding onto the chair next to him. He looked up his friend and even though his curls were more unruly than ever and hung in front of his face Liam could tell that his friend hadn’t slept well, if at all.

The younger boy didn’t reply and Liam looked up in worry when his boyfriend took a seat across from them.

“Hey guys.” He mumbled, careful not to say a wrong word or do a wrong thing. Harry had been very.. sensitive these days. Liam and Zayn looked at each other for a while, silently exchanging worried glances at their mutual friend who still had his head bowed over his plate.

“Look,” Liam started after a while, tapping his fingers on the surface of the table nervously. “You should probably eat something.” No reply. “Just some fries? Or you can have my salad if you don’t want-”

“’M not hungry.” Harry mumbled back and Liam rolled his eyes at him, which he couldn’t see because he hadn’t moved his head one bit. Liam glanced at Zayn again who only shrugged his shoulders helplessly. The nod towards the younger boy Liam gave him though was more than enough indication that he was supposed to say something.

“Harry, er,” He started still feeling completely lost. “There’s other fish in the sea?” He tried and Liam had to stop himself from leaning across the table and smacking Zayn across the face because, no, this really did not help. He glared at his boyfriend and was almost too caught up doing that to miss the movement next to him. Harry had stood up, reaching for his tray with the still untouched food.

“Great Zayn.” Liam hissed before turning towards Harry again, grabbing his wrist. “Hey, sit down. You need to eat. And you need to talk to us. I get that you’re upset, but you can’t keep to yourself forever. I’m- We’re worried about you. We can help you with this. We’ve all been through a tough breakup before. It’s not the end of the world, believe me.”

“Liam.” Harry pleated through gritted teeth, trying to pull his wrist away but Liam’s grip was tight and the harder Harry pulled the closer he got to spilling the drink on his tray.

“It’s not gonna make you feel any better if you just keep running away from dealing with your feelings.”

“I’m not running away from it, okay?” Harry spat, stomping his food on the ground. “Just because I’m not talking to you about it, doesn’t mean I’m not talking to somebody else maybe!”

Liam let go of Harry’s wrist and Harry knew he had overstepped a line immediately. The hurt that shone in Liam’s eyes almost made him want to sit down and apologize and tell Liam every thing. Almost. But he couldn’t. As much as he may have wanted to he couldn’t do it. And especially not at school.

And so he glanced a last time at Liam and Zayn, trying to send them an apologetic look as he walked away. He couldn’t deal with their disappointment as well. Liam’s disappointment in their friendship and Zayn’s disappointment in his reaction. They both knew it wasn’t like him to treat Liam like this and if Harry didn’t know that Zayn was giving him a free pass on this one (due to obvious reasons) he would have feared to never hear the end of that last encounter.

Liam had told Zayn all that had happened after Liam and Harry had gotten back from the airport. The three boys had been sitting in Zayn’s bedroom and Liam and Zayn had talked quietly as Harry only sat with them, silent tears streaming down his face nonstop. Harry himself couldn’t understand why he couldn’t stop crying, after all he was the one who broke up with Louis not the other way around. But every time he tried to calm himself down, telling it was nothing, the crying only got worse and some really ugly sobs escaped his lips, worrying his two friends.

And they still were worried and in a way Harry understood them, because if it wad the other way around he knew he would be worried for them as well, but he just couldn’t deal with them right now. What was he going to tell them anyways? Oh yeah, that he had broken up with his boyfriend but now didn’t want that anymore? That he actually had wanted to run back to him the minute he had turned around to leave? Harry couldn’t really do that. Especially not after Liam had asked him at least a dozen if he was really sure of what he was doing and if he didn’t want to rethink this, but Harry had been angry. He had been so angry and he had just wanted Louis to really listen to him for once.

But well that had been three days before and now it was Monday and Harry was back in school, wandering through the hallways away from their lunch hall. He should be thinking back to lovely memories of Paris right now, maybe sending Louis a cheeky text telling him that he missed him already, despite the fact that they had just sent the past 48 hours glued to one another.

But none of this was the case and so Harry swallowed down the tears that threatened to spill over as he took another turn and came to a halt when he realized he had reached his locker. He hadn’t really planned on go here, but now that he was there already he decided to lock away his Physics textbook.

“Harry?”

Smack, his textbook fell to the ground and ouch, right on his food, thank you. Great, now his toe hurt as well, what an amazing day. Letting out an annoyed sigh Harry bent down to grab his book from the floor and turning away from the person that had approached him, because he most definitely did not need to turn around to know who was standing there.

“Hey, er, sorry about lunch.” Liam said, gesturing back towards the direction of the lunch hall like hadn’t just been there.

“Yeah.” Harry mumbled angrily as he yanked his locker door open after entering the code incorrectly twice. He pushed the textbook in after a stack of notes had fluttered out. With another sigh he bent down to grab the papers, but Liam was already there picking up the notes for him.

“Here.” He said with a careful smile as the boys both stood up again and Harry pushed the notes carelessly into the locker before he smacked the door shut again.

“Harry, will you talk to me please?” Liam asked just as Harry had thought he could escape the situation without being forced to talk all that much. “I mean you don’t have to, like, tell me.. everything. I just- I want to know what’s wrong. I thought this was what you wanted and now you’re all.. I’m just- It’s so confusing.”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed, still not really wanting to talk about any of this.

“So is..? Did Louis call you or is there any thing that..?” Liam tried again, stepping a littler closer towards Harry.

“No I-” Harry started and he felt tears welling up in his eyes, which was not good. Not a school. Not in public he had sworn to himself.

“Hey, come here.” Liam said who saw the wetness in Harry’s eyes and pulled him into a hug which only made things worse.

“No, no.” Harry said as he carefully pushed his friend away. Liam made big eyes as Harry wiped away some of the tears quickly before staring down at his hands.

“Harry, you need to talk about this. You need to tell-” Liam tried, his hands rubbing Harry’s shoulder consolingly.

“No.” Harry spat again, pushing Liam’s hand away more forcefully now. “Leave me alone Liam. I don’t need to talk to you. I don’t need to talk to anybody. This is my stupid thing, because I was stupid enough to break up with him. So please just go away with your puppy eyes and hugs and your talks because I don’t want them.”

“Harry, don’t be rid-”

“No!” And Harry knew he was doing Liam wrong but he couldn’t help but glare at his friend one last time before stalking away without looking back.

~

Harry knew he had been a dick and he didn’t really expect Liam to come around anytime soon but that afternoon, just as he was hovering over his maths homework, there was a quiet knock on his door and his head snatched up immediately.

“Yeah?” He asked, because this surely wasn’t his mum – she never knocked – but he wasn’t expecting anybody either. The door was opened a tiny bit and Liam’s head poked through the gap with a shy smile.

“Hey.” He said carefully.

“Come in.” Harry said with a sigh, sliding a sheet of paper into his book before closing it and pushing it to the side. He pet the space in front of him on the bed ans Liam came walking over, climbing onto the bed with another shy smile.

“I, er, sorry about earlier.” Harry said, looking down at his hands.

“It’s okay.” Liam said sounding surprised, like he hadn’t expected Harry to apologize. “I, erm, actually wanted to say I’m sorry, too. I mean, I never meant to annoy you or anything but apparently I have and I’m just feeling bad. It feels like it’s my fault that you’re upset now because I was there when you broke up with him and I should have said something, like I knew you were going to-”

“No, Liam.” Harry said softly looking up. “This is not your fault, not at all. I made that decision and I’m going to have to live with it.”

“Well you..” Liam paused, studying Harry’s face intently. Harry didn’t know what his friend was looking for, but apparently he had found it, because only a moment later he was talking again. “You don’t just have to live with it. I mean he’s not dead, you could.. could give him a call? Maybe say that you want to get back together? Or at least.. talk about it?”

“Liam, I don’t..” A sigh escaped his lips and he shut his eyes. “I don’t think Louis wants to. I mean I was pretty insistent when.. on Friday. And I understand that he doesn’t. He’s probably over it already and.. I don’t know.”

“What if he.. wasn’t?” Liam asked, leaning in a little again though making sure not to touch Harry.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked sceptically, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“I mean if you knew that he.. missed you. Would you try again?”

“Liam, I don’t know that.” Harry argued but Liam shook his head.

“I’m saying if you knew it.. Would you?” He insisted and Harry shrugged, not knowing where to look.

“Yeah I suppose. I don’t know, Liam. What is this?”

“I.. I brought you something.” Liam said, fiddling with the inside of his jacket before he pulled out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to Harry.

~

Sugarscape: Sunday, 24th February

‘LOUIS TOMLINSON CRYING OVER MYSTERIOUS (EX-)BOYFRIEND OR ALL JUST A GENIUS SETUP?’

We’ve all always thought the Louis Tomlinson had some very feminine touches to him, but who would have actually thought that he was gay? Or is he not?

Things have gotten a little confusing around our little darling after he had been spotted by fans at London Airport on Friday afternoon. They claim that he had been “crying his heart out” after a still unnamed boy had “broken up with him” and left the scene.

We’re still missing pictures from the scene, as well as an confirmation from Louis himself or the management, but they have kept quiet mostly. As far as we know Louis is in the States right now, most likely staying in a hotel in Florida. But doesn’t that seem a little suspicious?

The latest update given from the management’s spokesman claims that all the rumors about our Tommo’s sexuality are false and that he’s straight. The pictures of him crying were supposedly taken earlier this year back when he was crying over his ex-girlfriend Eleanor Calder. Other sources claim to spot tattoos on those recent pictures that Louis hadn’t even had earlier this year.

WOW, this is confusing! Louis had us all waiting for him to respond to this whole drama himself, because he just seems to be swallowed by the ground. He may or may not be with his secret lover, but after their fallout from Friday that’s more unlikely.

So we’re still on the lookout for not only Lou, but also for the mysterious boy. And are we the only ones or does it seem a bit weird that this boy has never been seen before? Neither has he been caught on camera. Leave us to think that maybe Louis’ taste in men isn’t as exceptional as it is in women! Eleanor had definitely raised our expectations, so let’s see if Mr. Mysterious can live to that?

~

Louis really didn’t think it was good idea for him to read any of the things the press wrote about him ever. And he hadn’t changed his mind now, but Niall had sent him an email with the link included to one of the latest sugarscape articles. The email simply said that he should “Take a look at this!” and so he did.

He scrolled down the page, the article plastered with pictures of himself at the airport. He tried not to look at them as he read around them, focusing on the words. Those shots were really not flattering at all and also they only made him want to cry again, so he forced his gaze off them as he read.

Two articles into the article he wondered why Niall had wanted him to read through it in the first place. Sounded like one of the regular articles, speculating a lot, stating a lot of truths that weren’t confirmed as well as supposedly confirmed lies. But that’s how it always was and Louis didn’t bother with the article all that much until he got to the end. The last paragraph in particular was absolutely horrible and Louis had to bite down onto his lip hard to remind himself that this was just another stupid, stupid sugarscape article. People knew to not just believe what they wrote.

But it was hard. It was so hard reading what they said about Harry. It was a lot harder then seeing what they wrote about him, because well they always did that and also most of it was true. But everything that was said about Harry was just a lie and wrong and Louis wanted to kill somebody. Wanted to show them how beautiful his boy was, how cute and adorable and that he meant the world to him. Still.

~

Four hours later Louis found himself seated in an airplane in the first class, separated from anybody else. He flipped through a magazine, not daring to think about the seven hour flight ahead of him or what expected him once he got back into London. He just forced his brain to bother with something else until he got there.

And once he got there he force his brain to think that, yes, this was good. He wanted this. He had always wanted this. He could try, he had to. So in the end he could at least tell himself that he had given it his all and that he had tried.

And so he didn’t hesitate when he got off the plane in London, grabbing his bags and hurrying to find a cab before anybody could recognize him. He had his hood pulled deep into his eyes, his fringe was covering most of his eyes as kept his head low and also the general believe was that he still was in Florida, but he didn’t want to risk getting recognized now. He could deal with that later.

Once he found himself a cab and the driver had helped him loading his bags in there he slumped into the backseat, pulling his hood off and scooting low.

“Where to?” The driver asked and Louis told him the address while still trying to hide himself from possible stares through the window on the side. The driver only nodded and drove off quickly, causing Louis to relax into his seat a little more.

Fifteen minutes into the driver Louis’ phone rang and he fumbled with the front pocket of his jeans to get it out. As he glanced at the screen his heart almost stopped. Harry. Louis thought about not answering the call, about waiting things out until they saw each other in person again, but who was he kidding here? Harry was calling him and he had been waiting for this for more than four days now so the decision had been made before he even started thinking about it really.

“Harry?” He asked as he answered the call.

“Louis. Hi.” The younger boy said and it was such a relief to hear the younger boy’s voice again that Louis wanted to cry.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Louis held his breath. This was ridiculous he wanted to laugh, wanted to make Harry laugh. But the tension lingering between the two of them kept him from doing so. Just as the silence got unbearable Harry decided to speak again.

“Where are you?” He asked and Louis paled. He knew. Harry knew. He knew he was coming, why else would he ask. He could read that Louis had been in Florida everywhere online.

“I-In a cab.” Louis said and okay, that wasn’t even a lie.

“Oh.” Harry said and it sounded like he hadn’t really expected that answer. “Are you.. are you going to the hotel or..?” And okay, that was unexpected.

“Why are you asking? I..”

“Okay fine, listen Louis. I’m here, I’m in Florida. I just wanted to see you I’m sorry. And I probably should have called first, but I felt like we just needed to talk and I went to the hotel that most articles said you were staying at but they said you weren’t staying there, but there were so many fans and they told me they probably couldn’t say which room you were staying in and I just.. Just tell me where you are Lou.”

Louis felt incredibly light all the sudden. Light and happy and he had to laugh, because this was the most absurd situation he had ever been in. Something like this would only happen to him. And he couldn’t keep himself from laughing, but he felt the other boy’s confusion and bit his lips, trying to calm down.

“You know where I am?” He asked, chuckling a little and waiting for Harry to mumble out a confused and slightly annoyed “Where?”. “I’m in London.” Louis admitted and he felt the same realization hitting Harry that had hit him just a moment ago. “I’m on my way to yours right now.”

“Oh. Oh!” Was all Harry said before they were silent for a while again. “I- I guess I’ll catch a flight back then.”

“Yeah. I guess I’ll.. go to mine then?”

“Yeah for, er, now.”

“Okay.”

There was silence and this time it was awkward.

“I’ll.. I’ll call you when I get there.” Harry said and Louis hummed in agreement before he hung up. Oh God, this was awkward.

~

Sixteen hours later Harry was sitting in a cab from the airport to his house as well. He felt absolutely knackered, having been up for more than 24 hours and regretting that he hadn’t gotten any sleep on the plane.

As the driver drove him through the slowly filling streets of early morning London he thought about giving his mum a call but then thought better. She didn’t exactly know that he had been to Florida and back in the past twenty hours, so he liked to keep it that way and would just make up a story about staying at Liam’s. It wasn’t like that hadn’t happened before.

But longer they drover the more he felt the need to tell somebody and obviously somebody would be Liam. So he called out his phone, flicking through the contacts and tapping Liam’s name. He heard the phone rang for about six times and already thought about hanging up when suddenly somebody picked up.

“Yeah?” He heard a sleepy voice ask.

“Liam?” Harry wondered, because that did not sound like Liam.

“Zayn.” Oh.

“Can you put Liam on?”

“He’s asleep, Harry. Like I was five seconds ago. The fuck you want?”

And okay, it really was early, but Harry needed to talk and Zayn was up already anyways, so why the hell not tell him?

“I flew to Florida to go see Louis but he wasn’t there, because he’s back in London already and so I flew back and I just landed and I need some place to go to. Can’t really show up at home at like 5 in the morning.”

“But you can show up at Liam’s at 5 in the morning?” Zayn asked incredulously, obviously pissed that Harry had woken him. Harry doubted he had understood or really listened to him talk, because if he had he’d be asking different questions now.

“Usually.” Harry admitted and Zayn huffed in frustration.

“Fine, come over. But don’t even think I’m putting clothes on for you.”

~

Zayn was fully dressed when the cab pulled up in front of Liam’s house and he came walking out to help Harry with his bag. He carried it inside while Harry payed and followed him quickly. They sat down in the kitchen, three mugs of tea on the table. Liam’s head was rested on top of the wooden surface along with the cups and he took deep breaths, looking more tired than ever.

“Harry I put you on a plane to Florida 24 hours ago. Why the hell are you back? How did you even get back so fast?” Liam wanted to know, lifting his head barely enough to sip from his tea.

“Louis is in London.” He admitted and both his friends seemed a little more awake right away. So Zayn really hadn’t listened to him one bit, but that was okay. Harry smiled quietly.

“Louis is in London?” Liam asked again, blinking his eyes rapidly in confusion.

“Yeah, he erm.. It’s funny actually. I called him when I got to the hotel and told him that I wanted to talk and all and he said he had just gotten back to London and was on his way to mine.” Harry told them and they sat in silence for a while.

“Well that’s.. good right?” Zayn wanted to know, tilting his head to the side. Harry shrugged. “I mean, not counting in that you just blew over 1000 pounds on a Florida trip when really you were only there for like what? Five hours?”

Harry smiled weakly, rubbing his eyes. “Something like that.” He admitted with a yawn, before he took a sip of his own tea. They sat in silence again and Liam rested his head against Zayn shoulder, closing his eyes and after a couple of minutes Harry was almost positive that Liam had gone back to sleep.

It didn’t take Zayn and him long before they decided that they wanted to go back to bed as well and so Zayn grabbed his boyfriend and let him wrap his arms and legs around his torso to carry him upstairs into Liam’s room. Harry followed quietly and slumped into bed with the two, giggling a little when Zayn told him to watch his hands.

“Ugh did you guys have sex in here last night?” Harry asked mockingly, shifting from side to side, pretending to rub dirt off of him.

“Be glad you have a place to sleep at at all.” Zayn shot back.

~

“But he said he’d call, Niall! He said he would.” Louis said with an exhausted sigh as he slumped down onto the couch next to his cousin. Niall was leaning towards the TV, his eyes scrunched together in concentration, his thumbs flying over the Xbox-controller in his hand.

“Look, do you even if he’s back yet?”

“Yes! I mean I think. Probably. I checked the airlines’ websites last night and there was a flight from Florida back to London that landed this morning. It’s been almost five hours now. And he still hasn’t called!”

“Well give him some time.” Niall reasoned, hissing as his character in the game died. He turned to look at Louis. “Maybe he didn’t get on that plane. Maybe he’s still in Florida and you’re worrying over nothing.”

“But what if he’s not?” Louis asked back, the panic flashing in his eyes barely dying down.

“D’you want me to call Liam?” Niall asked with a sigh as he picked the controller up again and started another game, his attention turning back towards the screen. Louis huffed in annoyance, but Niall ignored him, shrugging only lightly before killing another player with a long distance shot. “Yes!” He cheered but Louis only glared art him.

“Fine, call Liam.” The older boy gave in after a while, not standing the silence between him and Harry. Niall only shrugged again, paused the game for a short moment as he went through his contacts, tapped Liam’s name and then managed to lift his shoulder high enough to squeeze his phone in between his shoulder and his ear as his hand sunk down again to resume playing.

“Put him on speakerphone.” Louis demanded and Niall huffed as he let the phone drop to his lap and Louis scrambled forwards, grabbing the phone and turning it louder.

“Hello?” A half annoyed and half sleepy voice asked from the other end of the line.

“Liam?” Niall asked, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

“Yeah.” The boy breathed back. “One moment.” Then there was a shuffling sound and Liam seemed to be moving before they heard the quiet clicking sound of a door being shut and then Liam taking a deep breath. “Sorry, just Zayn and, erm.. Zayn’s still sleeping so yeah.”

“No big deal.” Niall waved him off, his eyes darting down towards the phone quickly before he fixed his gaze on the screen again. Louis wanted to roll his eyes at his cousin, but he kept from doing so even though he probably wouldn’t even see.

“So..?” Liam prompted after a while and it seemed like Niall had forgotten the reason he was calling in the first place.

“Ask him.” Louis hissed and Niall nodded.

“Listen, Liam, did you hear from Harry?”

“Yeah, I..” The boy admitted, seemingly confused by the question.

“So is he back yet, or..?”

“Erm.” Liam said, dragging the word in hesitation. “Yes, he.. Yes. Showed up at my house at around 5 this morning. He’s sleeping now. Don’t think he’s slept at all during the past 30 hours.”

“Yeah.” Niall said mindlessly and Louis wished that his cousin was paying a little more attention. He at least could say something a little more sensitive. “Louis was just wondering, because Harry said he’d call him and stuff.” Yeah, not like that.

Louis was blushing and paling at the same time, feeling his face heat up, but draining at the time. It was an awkward feeling, a horrible feeling. He wanted to smack Niall in the face tell him that he was not supposed to say that, but what would it help?

Liam had gone rather quiet on the other end of the line. “Oh. Oh. Well, tell Louis not to worry about it. Wouldn’t surprise me if Harry was out for the next week. But he was happy when he got here. Like really happy, wouldn’t stop smiling for shit.”

Niall laughed and turned to Louis who was definitely blushing now and couldn’t wipe the surprised but genuinely happy and content grin off his face. His mind was bubbling over, because this was good. This was really, really good. Maybe there was a chance that..

“Louis’s gonna enjoy hearing that.” Niall told Liam with a little smirk and another long distance kill shot.

“He better. I can’t take Harry smiling like the freaking sun any longer than I have to.”

~

By the end of the week Harry had slept is jet lag off, had mastered a more than awkward phone conversation with Louis and was currently dressing himself to go get lunch. With Louis. Oh God.

“It’s funny, it’s kinda like your guys’ first date.” Zayn said as he tilted his head to the side, watching Harry doing up the buttons on his shirt.

“Don’t remind me.” Harry said rolling his eyes and flattening his shirt with his palms after he was done with the buttons.

“You said it was amazing.”

“It was.” Harry admitted and Zayn gave him a confused look before shook his head lightly, dropping the topic.

“Are you nervous?” He wanted to know, getting up and walking over to Harry who was fixing his curls right now.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend to snog?” The younger boy asked back and it was meant to be harsh, but Zayn only laughed, sticking his tongue out at his friend.

“Nope, he’s gone and left me to deal with you. And now let’s go. Your hair looks gorgeous, your outfits’s prefect and your overall look is just smashing so..” Zayn said mockingly gesturing towards the door. Harry only rolled his eyes and kept fixing his hair, taking maybe a little longer than he actually needed to. The older boy only glared at him but bit his tongue and didn’t say anything more until Harry was all done.

“Okay.” The younger boy said, giving himself a once over in the mirror. He looked okay and that had to be enough for now. His hair was unruly as ever and he couldn’t tame it one bit, but Louis knew that and Louis loved it that way anyways, so what was he worrying about? Expect there was so much in Harry’s head to worry about and the concerned furrowing of his brows kind of ruined the entire look.

“Alright mate.” Zayn said, slapping his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. You look good. He loves you. That is all you need, right?”

“Hmm.” Harry hummed back. But he was going to sweat it. He did not look good. And Louis probably did not love him either. So there were a few things to worry about right there, but he wasn’t going to say anything. It wasn’t like those were things Zayn had to worry about.

And so Harry let his older friend push him out the bedroom and down the stairs and out the front door. He grabbed his jacket as they walked and tried to glance at the tall mirror in the hallway but Zayn pulled him past it too quickly to really get a glance.

“Off you go.” Zayn said with a little smirk. “My little girl is all grown up now.”

Harry wasn’t sure if it was Zayn’s intention but his little mocking comments made it easier for Harry to simply glare at him quickly and than to leave as fast as he could. He really didn’t want to go (I mean he did, but then he didn’t. Get it?) but even less so did he want to stay and have Zayn mock him for how nervous he was.

So he jumped in his car and drove off, trying to ignore Zayn who stood by the front door and waved after him with a content grin.

Okay. Okay.

The ride to the restaurant Louis had picked for them was shorter than Harry remembered it. Or maybe he drove faster. Or maybe he just really didn’t want to get there. But he arrived a littler earlier than he needed to be there and sat in the car by himself for a moment, taking in deep breaths of oxygen in an effort to calm himself.

It’s only lunch. Lunch. Not your conviction.

He could do this he told himself and pushed out of the car minutes later, locking the car and throwing his jacket over his shoulder in what he hoped looked like a casual act. Harry had parked only down the road from the restaurant and bit his lip nervously as he walked the short path from his car to the front doors of the restaurant.

He was still a few minutes early and thought about whether he should go inside and look if Louis was maybe there already or if he should wait outside. Hesitatingly he looked up and down the road, pushing his hands deep in his pockets and scrunching his shoulders up as he waited.

Just as he had decided that Louis was probably already there and that he should go inside to check on him, the older boy came approaching him from down the road with a small smile. Harry’s heart suddenly picked up and started beating like crazy, making him fear he was going to faint right there on the spot. But Louis didn’t seem fazed and came walking closer and closer, giving Harry a small and awkward wave as he got closer. He stopped a few feet away from the boy, pushing his hands into his pockets, like Harry did with his. Realizing that the motion must have looked very defensively to Louis Harry pulled his hands out again, crossing them in front of his chest but the changing his mind and letting them hang down uselessly.

“Er, hi.” He tried after a while when Louis still hadn’t said anything.

“Hey Harry.” The older replied, stepping forward little so they were separated by a normal casual conversation distance. They just stood there, looking at each other, not really knowing what to do next and the fact that Harry’s heart was still hammering in his ears didn’t exactly help him think.

“Look,” Louis began as the silence started to get awkward, stepping forward and reaching out for Harry’s hand but then changing his mind and dropping his hand to his side again. “I’m sorry you had to go to Florida and yeah. I mean I- I should have called first. I shouldn’t have-”

“No it’s alright.” Harry told him, lowering his eyes to the ground for a moment. “I could’ve called too, I just.. I needed to see you.” He admitted, closing his eyes as he waited for Louis’ reaction. Harry was too far gone for this boy to hold of his feelings back and if Louis was to reject him now that would break him. And the silence between them carried on and on and Harry was starting the feel hot pain building up in his eyes and swallowed hard, trying to force the tears away.

“Yeah.” Louis muttered after what felt like forever. “Me too.”

Harry swallowed again before he looked up. And what he saw in Louis’ eyes was what he imagined his face to look like right now. And his brain went blank.

“I missed you.” He admitted out of nowhere and the other boy only nodded.

“I missed you, too.” Louis said as he took two steps forward and wrapped his arms around the younger boy, burying his head against Harry’s chest. Harry wound his arms around Louis’ back as well, holding him tight against him and letting his fingers run through the hair on Louis’ neck. It was soft and warm and so Louis, just like Harry remembered.

“You’re gonna make me cry.” Louis said after a moment, trying to pull away from Harry, but the younger boy only tightened his grip, not wanting to let go just yet.

“It’s okay.” He assured, but Louis shook his head, pushing away from him now.

“Crying’s so gay.” He said and both boys laughed, staying close to each other. Naturally Harry let his fingers trail down Louis’ body until he found his hands and let their fingers intertwine like they had never been separated.

“Hey Louis!” Somebody behind them called and Harry was just starting to get annoyed that somebody was ruining their little moment, but the next few things that happened happened so fast that Harry had no time to wrap his head around any other feeling than wonder.

Louis turned around, his fingers still laced with Harry’s and the flurry of camera’s flashing that followed his simple head turn almost blinded Harry. He could barely see and he most certainly couldn’t think when Louis dropped his hands and spun around, shielding Harry behind him protectively. He tried to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why there were so many people with cameras and why they were shouting and why Louis was shouting and what he was even doing there. But he was lost, so lost, only standing there watching the screaming match as more camera’s flashed.

“Just go away.” Louis yelled once more and Harry reached out to touch his back to calm him down, but Louis really didn’t seem to be in the mood to be calmed down.

“What can you say about recent rumors about your sexuality?”

“Louis, look here!”

“Who is that Louis? Is that your boyfriend?”

“Louis!”

“Who are you, boy? Are you with Louis Tomlinson?”

“Why is it that your management keeps claiming-”

“Shut up!” Louis launched forwards taking a threatening step towards the paparazzi who calmed down just a tiny bit, suddenly fumbling with their recording devices shoving them into Louis’ face. “Will you please just leave?”

Well, surprise surprise that didn’t work.

“Okay, you want a story? Fine. I’m gay. There you go. Write something scandalizing about that, but please just leave me- leave him alone.” Louis aggressive tone had turned into something more calm and almost begging as he reached back for Harry, simply to make sure that he was still there. Harry reached forward, touching his hand lightly and keeping his eyes on the ground as Louis fought with the paparazzi.

“Who is he?”

“Is he the boy from the airport?”

“Are you confirming that you’re gay and that you have been all along?”

“Who is that boy?”

“Was your relationship with Eleanor Calder not real?”

“Is that the mysterious boy from the airport?”

“Step forward, boy. We want to get a good shot-”

“Harry keep your head down.” Louis instructed him over the yells from the paparazzi. It was merely a whisper and incredibly soft and sorry and Harry obeyed him right away, hiding his eyes behind his curls, keeping close to Louis without touching him. But when he heard Louis talk again he was tempted, so tempted to look up. He wanted to see Louis’ eyes, wanted to reach out and tell him that it was going to be okay, because Louis sounded just so desperate.

“Please leave. You wanna ruin my life, fine go ahead. Nothing new there. But please leave him alone. He’s the one good thing that happened to me in the past two years that I truly enjoy and that is good for me. He is lovely and he cares and he keeps me grounded from all the stuff people like you put me through.

“I’ve lost him before and I now that I almost got him back you have to show up and ruin everything. Just please let me be happy with him. Who cares that I’m a dude and he’s a dude. Who cares about anything? Think about it, you guys usually don’t care about shit, so why now?”

The paparazzi were quiet, listening to Louis’ speech eagerly, lusting to be the first to sell a great story. But of course there always had to be one who overstepped the line.

“Can we just get one picture of the two of you together?”

And that’s when Louis leaped forwards and threw a punch.

~

Yeah, okay. So maybe hitting that paparazzi hadn’t been the smartest decision Louis had made in the past week. But then again he had made a lot of not smart decision in the past week and as he sat in the London police station now, waiting for his manager to bail him out of this, he had quite some time to think.

Obviously his manager hadn’t exactly been delighted out of his mind when he had had to come to the police station to pick Louis up, but Louis wasn’t too worried about that. He was a good pop star most of the time and his manager already was on first name basis with all the cops around here due to many of his other clients, so Louis really wasn’t in all that much trouble.

Or so he thought.

He was being yelled at quite good – not only for hitting the pap, but also kind of for what he told them in the first place – and also his manager informed him that the management wasn’t going to pay for the bail he was let out on and that they were taking it off his next paycheck. Like that would bother him.

It wasn’t before he had gotten home and showered, cuddled up on the couch with a mug of hot tea that he let himself think about Harry. Louis had sent him home once the police had been called and Harry had left with a silent nod. It was disappointing, yes, but what else could Louis expect? Harry was probably scared out of his mind and didn’t plan on seeing Louis ever again. And the saddest thing was that Louis understood. He completely understood that Harry wasn’t ready to deal with that kind of thing in his life.

And even though Louis understood that and knew that, he still had forced it onto him. Not only had he gotten Harry in a situation with paparazzi, but he also had confirmed what they had been speculating about for so long. And if any of the girls at Harry’s school were only remotely into Louis’ music they probably had seen pictures of what had happened earlier today and they had also probably recognized Harry.

So overall Louis felt worse than before, crying himself to sleep that night and having horrible night mares about things that could happen to Harry. And after he woke from those night mares, covered in sweat and his heart racing, he fell asleep again, tossing and turning all night. Tossing and turning until his nightmares turned into sweet dreams where Harry was happy and laughing and having a good life. But as his dreams changed, Louis changed as well and in the end Louis had to watch Harry being happy with somebody that wasn’t him.

And that was when Louis accepted that Harry was better off when anybody but him.

~

“I checked the Internet. They said the police didn’t keep you. So I thought I was most likely going to find you here.” Harry announced the next day as he pushed past Louis into his flat. The older boy had only just woken up from a nap, still feeling tired after he had barely slept at all the past night. He had no idea what was going on, but his brain was too tired to even worked and so he only followed Harry as the boy made his way into Louis’ living room.

Louis’ opened the window as the air in the room was still thick from him sleeping in here only a moment ago. Harry watched him with curious eyes before his gaze dropped towards the blanket on the couch and his eyes grew wide.

“Did I wake you?” He asked, sounding guilty. Louis only shrugged, still too tired to understand any of this. He was probably still sleeping. This was about to turn into a nightmare, he just knew it.

“Oh, I- I can come back later, if-”

“No, no.” Louis cut him off, waving his hand through the air dismissively. “Just, er, had a rough night.”

Harry looked at him for a moment, searching for something in his eyes and then dropped himself onto the couch, petting the spot next to him, prompting Louis to do the same. With curious eyes Louis watched him and did as Harry wanted him to, his brain slowly waking up and starting to wonder what the hell was going on.

“When did you get home?” Harry wanted to know, shifting closer towards Louis.

“Around six or seven maybe. Not all that late.”

“What did they say?”

“Management was was worse than the police. Just yelled at me.”

Harry dropped his eyes, sitting in silence for a while before he reached out for Louis’ hand and took it, slowly letting their fingers lace together naturally, like they had the day before. And that was about the time Louis’ brain short circuited. Out of order. Bye.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.” Louis heard himself say. “Really, really sorry.”

A soft smile tugged on Harry’s lips as he looked up, eyes sparkling at Louis. “Don’t be.” And okay, Louis was confused now. “I mean.. next time you’re pouring out your heart to me, maybe we can do it while there’s not twenty people with cameras watching?” Harry was beaming at him now and Louis was only growing more and more confused. “Because other than that I was pretty darn overwhelmed and still am pretty in love with you.”

And if all reasonable thinking hadn’t left Louis’ brain before it sure had now. Here he sat on his couch, the boy he had thought he had lost forever telling him he was in love with him.

“I’m pretty in love with you too.” Louis said and the smile on Harry’s face grew even wider, though Louis had thought that wasn’t even possible any more.

“Good.” Harry said, his yes glowing with happiness and affection. “Can we try again then?”

“Yeah.” Louis breathed as they both started leaning in, his lips hovering over Harry’s barely touching them. “I hope.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope this healed all the broken Larry hearts. xx


End file.
